CHAR-KOOSTA
Newspaper of the Confederated Sattsh & Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation
VOLUME 13 NUMBER 9 THE MONTH OF THE CHOKECHERRIES SEPTEMBER 4, 1984
Council offers to negotiate on Kerr; MPC response 'grossly inadequate'
At the end of the Kerr Dam hearings late in July, FERC judge Bruce Birchman advised the Tribes and the Montana Power Company to negotiate because both entities had problems with their respective bids to operate the dam.
The name Char-Koosta is derived from Chief Charlo's and Chief Koostatah's names. They were the Tribes' last traditional chiefs._
The Tribal Council acted on the judge's advice by proposing a deal that was "a hard-line but fair offer", according to the Council member closest to the issue Teresa Wall, who wouldn't release details.
The offer would still be a private matter between the Council and MPC pending further talks, except that MPC "apparently slipped a copy of its response" to ex-Tribal Council member E.W. Morigeau, Wall surmisses, who then used it as part of a news release to a local weekly newspaper. Morigeau is head of the self-styled Kerr relicensing team
Wall said the Mission Valley News' August 29 front-page story seemed to say that MPC has proposed two deals -- one to the Council and one to Morigeau. There has been one counter-offer, she said, but with two options. The first option was for $5 million a year for 20 years, for a total lease-long rental of $100 million The second option added $2.6 million to the original $5000 to each Tribal member. The $2.6 portion presumably
Budget hearing is this Thursday
The Council will be holding a public hearing on the Tribes' FY85 proposed budget of $4,915,382 9 am, Thursday, September 6, in the Council chambers in Pablo.
would go annually to the general Tribal coffers. The second option totals $82,700,000 over 20 years.
Because "we are very concerned about the welfare of the people and we intend to get the license," Wall said, the Council won't accept MPC's "grossly inadequate" offer. Even though the two options offer more
Vigil details on page two
than the Tribes receive now, "they're still peanuts," Wall said.
She added that MPC's apparent involvement in last week's disclosure of pending negotiations is further evidence of the company's failure to negotiate in good faith.
The "team's" August 28 news release hasn't been offered to the Indian press, so the Char-Koosta can't pass along any further details about that group's involvement in this latest development
Listen up, dog owners
Dog owners in 14 Tribal neighborhoods need to turn to page three for important information about the Tribes' new dog control ordinance.